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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23568544">Tomorrow's Problem</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoLynx/pseuds/PsychoLynx'>PsychoLynx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Community (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dreamatorium, F/M, Ficlet, Meta, Pre-Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:48:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>895</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23568544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoLynx/pseuds/PsychoLynx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After an argument, Abed decides it's time to show Annie what he really sees.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annie Edison/Abed Nadir</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tomorrow's Problem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Annie stared absently at the tv screen as the day’s news report looped itself, wallowing in the morning's events.</p>
<p> <em>  “Your naivety borders on genre blindness.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em></em>
</p>
<p>
  <em></em>
</p>
<p><em>  “Your ‘quirkiness’ borders on outright asshole!” </em> </p>
<p>She pressed the remote and continued to stare at the TV after it turned dark, motionless as she watched the clock strike 2 a.m.</p>
<p>She should already have been asleep for hours, but Abed was still weighing too heavily on her mind. Underestimating Abed’s ability to stay in the Dreamatorium was a mistake.</p>
<p>She rose from the couch. If he didn’t answer the door, then she would go to bed and reset in the morning. If he did, then she would actually sleep tonight.</p>
<p>She took a deep breath and tapped the door.</p>
<p>“It’s open.”</p>
<p>Annie froze. How long had it been unlocked?</p>
<p>Annie inched the door open to find Abed on the ground, fiddling with what looked like a grey motorcycle helmet with some wires taped to it.</p>
<p>“Abed, you need to sleep.”</p>
<p>“I can sleep when I’m offscreen.”</p>
<p>“Listen, I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m sorry, okay.”</p>
<p>“Cool, come over here. I need to show you something.”</p>
<p>Bare feet slid into the room as hands glided the door closed behind them.</p>
<p>“Watcha got there, Abed?” She didn’t remember them owning a helmet like that no more than she remembered Abed leaving the room. Her confusion grew. There was no way he could have slipped out to buy something like that while she was guarding the door.</p>
<p>Abed rose “It’s a fourth wall breaker that runs on pure phlebotinum. I call it the True Reality Device.”</p>
<p>“What does it do?”</p>
<p>“It will help you see things my way.”</p>
<p>Annie rolled her eyes. “Did you create that to convince me of your 'superior intellect.'”</p>
<p>“No, I’ve done that already. Creating a device to do it again would be pointless. This will show you what I see all day. Bow your head a bit for me?”</p>
<p>Her hair tipped forward off her shoulders as she bowed her head to humor him.</p>
<p>“Head up.”</p>
<p>She complied.  Abed situated the device meticulously, ensuring that every edge touched her head.</p>
<p>“Are you ready?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Abed.”</p>
<p>He nodded and flipped the switch. </p>
<p>
  <em>Annie's vision became filled with a haze like she had just rubbed her eyes. The grid of the room gave way. She saw their interaction written on paper like a script, she saw the wall beside her become a screen, for a brief moment, she saw you.</em>
</p>
<p>Abed flipped the helmet off. Annie reentered reality with a jolt. She scanned the room. It was normal. Everything was normal. She didn’t even have a pounding heart or jittery hands to say it had ever happened, only the tears on her cheeks and a mouth that babbled without words.</p>
<p>“That…” Annie choked out “That wasn’t imaginary. I saw that. You didn’t prompt me, but I saw that.”</p>
<p>“You’re right.”</p>
<p>“You see that...all the time.”</p>
<p>“Just some of the time. It’s worse when we’re bending genres.”</p>
<p>“All of it, our world, our experiences, us, is meaningless.”</p>
<p>“No, Annie, it’s not."—Abed put her hands on Annie's shoulders— "Everything we do, everything we say helps us connect in a deep and intimate way that no two human beings could connect with each other. We live in a million different ways in a million different heads.”</p>
<p>Annie covered her mouth “I’m not real.”</p>
<p>“Annie, listen to me. You are real. I am real. Even after we’re gone, we will still be real.”</p>
<p>“You can’t know that!” she snapped.</p>
<p>“Yes, I can. I am real to you and you are real to me. I know when people are just made up to drive us and our friends forward. My mom isn’t real.”</p>
<p>Annie looked up “What?”</p>
<p>“It’s true. There are pictures of her, but she’s only mentioned to add to my tragic backstory. My dad and family will talk about her, but I don’t think she’s actually real.”</p>
<p>Annie wrapped her arms around Abed “So it’s just you and me.”</p>
<p>“And Troy and Jeff and Shirley and—”</p>
<p>“But only you and me know.”</p>
<p>Abed awkwardly put his arms around his friend “I didn’t take time to think of the implications this would have on your character. I can set it to reverse and take it away if I must.”</p>
<p>Annie stayed quiet.</p>
<p>“Or I can let you decide later. I just need to catch you before you fall asleep and it goes into your long term memory.”</p>
<p>Annie pulled away and slipped the helmet off “What do I do with this?”</p>
<p>“Use it like I do. Observe people, build things, peer into different worlds—”</p>
<p>“Become you?”</p>
<p>Abed locked eyes with Annie. He hadn’t even seen her this afraid during the brief zombie outbreak.</p>
<p>“No. You’re not Abed; you’re Annie. With or without this, you will always be Annie.”</p>
<p>Annie handed the helmet back to her friend and left. She sat down on the couch and leaned back. There was just so much. The seconds she had seen had taken years off her life. There was more out there than what she saw; there had to be if it made Abed the way he was. She couldn't help but wonder how much she could see before she lost her supposed naivety.</p>
<p>She let her eyes drift shut.</p>
<p>All that would be tomorrow’s problem.</p>
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